If there is anything anyone does have on Flintoff, he would prefer not to know. "I don't read the paper every day or worry about what anyone's saying," he says. It is a tactic he has developed over the years, initially as a way of dealing with the constant speculation over his weight and his injuries, and then as a method of blocking out the commotion over the Ashes win.

In the Times Shane Warne writes that Graeme Swann is about to learn if he can live with great expectations.

Swann’s character could really get under the skin of the Australians and if I was the England captain, I would give him full licence to be himself. He isn’t to everyone’s taste. If he is dictating terms, he will have a strut about him and that arrogance and cockiness will be obvious. In that state, he could disrupt Australia’s rhythm.

Graham Onions has featured in selectorial thoughts for years, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent, but only recently has he lived up to his evident potential. Onions has enjoyed a fine season, the highlight of which came with his five-wicket bag on Test debut, and he is the man of the moment. But is he a certainty for Cardiff?

And the last of the summer whine blog has a hilarious 'moving tribute' to the recently retired Michael Vaughan.

Kevin Pietersen is hyperactive at the best of times but he becomes even more so when he throws down a can of caffeine-infused Red Bull just before he bats. He does it to give an electric edge to his senses and, as a consequence, often has a slightly manic appearance about him when he arrives at the crease. That, in turn, can prompt him to set off for death or glory singles to get off the mark - the Red Bull run as it has been dubbed in England. The Australian side is aware of this little foible, and so they should be.

...

The reason he currently has an Achilles heel injury is that on the recent tour of the West Indies he repeatedly jogged up a mountain in St Kitts. He may seem like a maverick but there is a disciplined side as well. He has a fetish for promptness and his biographer Paul Newman said in every interview session he had with Pietersen for their book, Newman never once arrived first.

"One of the things that is fundamental to my captaincy and that I have talked a lot about is player responsibility and not encouraging them but making them make decisions for themselves. Vaughan did that and so did Duncan Fletcher. When the England team were playing well under him the environment was the best I have experienced in any cricket." So Strauss recognises that it is crucial to recapture the mood of 2005. "There's no doubt that if you want to play well against Australia you have got to take them on and be prepared to scrap. Anybody who goes in there and just thinks 'Oh no, we'll just stick to our own game' is going to come unstuck. Our players are absolutely certain that they will go out there and go blow for blow.

To a nation that is still savouring the victory at the ICC World Twenty20 it may not go down too well, but the fact of the matter is that there is something more important to celebrate and talk about. It was a tournament where Shahid Afridi reinvented himself and that would mean much more to Pakistan than just the victory, provided, of course, he can keep it going, writes Humair Ishtiaq in the Pakistan daily Dawn.

The biggest gain is in his success to curb the irritating tendency to hit everything out of existence. His one-dimension batting technique was simple: close the eyes and hit through the line. But no more. It was truly and simply refreshing to watch Afridi ducking under the short balls and leaving the ones that wobbled around early in his innings. That he chose the shortest version of the game, which is more about the wham-bam stuff that he is known for than the straight-bat niceties, was a bit ironic but refreshing nonetheless.

At times I wonder without Vaas maturing along the line and forming that compatible duet would Muralitharan have been able to climb the heights that he has conquered today? It’s a known fact that for a bowler to succeed there should be another to block the flood gates at the other end.

He had taken his wicket just once, after Bradman had scored a double century. His track record against him was so meagre that he scarcely seemed, at least to Larwood himself, to be the bowler to interrupt Bradman's imperious progress. "He was cruel in the way he flogged you," said Larwood. "He made me very, very tired." But Bradman also made him "very, very angry". For there were professional and personal scores to be settled.

Speaking of feuds and rivalries, in his blog in the Observer Paul Hayward writes that despite his fitness problems and boozy indiscretions, Andrew Flintoff is still England's most important player.

The most compelling individual sub-plot to the coming marathon is whether Flintoff still has it in him to be the wrecker of Aussie hopes. After four ankle operations, and one in his knee following an ill-starred cameo in the Indian Premier League, the imagination's dark parts see him carted out of this series on a stretcher. If he survives through to The Oval, he will haunt Australia's batsmen and bowlers through sheer force of personality as well as the brutish power of his physique.

David Gower believes the outcome of this summer's series will hinge on the England captain’s handling of his biggest stars. If Andrew Strauss can achieve the same with the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Flintoff, he will be in clover, says Gower. He writes in the Sunday Times:

Strauss is good and also has that cool exterior. What he has yet to prove is that he possesses more of those Vaughan-, Brearley- or Illingworth-like traits. To win this Ashes series he will have to be braver than he was in the Caribbean, where caution in Antigua and, with trickier equations involved, in Trinidad cost him the series. He did at least show us in that series that he can raise his own game in response to the demands of captaincy and if he can do that again over the next couple of months, a lot more will fall into place. It has long been a pet theory of mine - not exactly a mind-blowing one, I admit - that if your own game is in order all the decision-making becomes a lot easier.

Staying with the Ashes but on a lighter note, the Observer catches up with two Irish pop mavericks who are giving England's cricketers an unexpected pre-Ashes boost in song. Neil Hannon (of the Divine Comedy) and Thomas Walsh (of Pugwash) discuss growing up as cricket fans in Ireland, the game's quirky appeal, and England's chances this summer.

The Guardian's Mike Selvey believes Monty Panesar looks a better option than Adil Rashid for the Ashes. Australia have been troubled by orthodox left-arm spin, moreover, most recently from South Africa's Paul Harris, and should a second spinner be required then Panesar would provide the best option.

He picked up three tail-end wickets on Thursdayand has suggested that he will return to his default pace with little attempt at variation, which is right in some respects as he is an attritional bowler. This is right in some respects – he is best as an attritional bowler – but naive in others: the main variation he has failed to exploit, which has cost games, is to go round the wicket to left-handers when the ball turns, concentrating too much on the rough.

Paul Weaver, in the same paper, says Ravi Bopara, England's new No 3, has spent his short lifetime surprising all and sundry with his natural ability. His defining moment has arrived.

Kevin Pietersen cannot wait for the Ashes to begin. He tells the Daily Telegraph's Jim White that the first day of the second Test at Edgbaston in 2005 was the day that changed everything.

There is no modesty about KP, false or otherwise. And when you look back at that Edgbaston day, and remember him slogging Shane Warne and making a dashing 71, it was all laid out before us: that was our batting future, the soon to be indisputable crux of the England side, the man on whom all fortunes hang. And didn't he know it. Yet, incredible as it seems when you recall his assurance, his self-possession that day, it was only his second Test match. He had emerged seemingly fully formed, as if he was made for the moment.

Have England got a good 'thing' going, asks Barney Ronay in his Guardian blog. It turns out England's cricketers will be 'reconnecting' with their natural game in order to win the Ashes.

England are not exactly on the rise, Australia are not in total disarray, while both sides have strengths and weaknesses that could be identified from Pluto. Thats Peter Roebuck looking at the Ashes in the Sydney Morning Herald.

James Lawton, in the Independent, looks at what makes Australia such a successful team on the world stage.

Also in the Independent, Chris McGrath relives the history of verbal duels without which an Ashes summer really wouldn't be cricket. Wives, mothers, children – when a war of words breaks out, nothing is off-limits.

Gideon Haigh, in the Times, says Ricky Ponting's touring team may not match the 2005 crew for star quality, but their team spirit compares favourably.

3.) Headingley – 42.8%

The home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club scraped into third place by 0.4%. Only one of the 45 cricketers polled said it was his Ashes ground of choice. Five said it was second favorite, 20 said it was third favorite, 18 said it was fourth and 1 said it was least favorite. Headingley is also embarking on redevelopment of part of the site. In March it was granted planning consent for the £21m, 45,000 sq ft Carnegie Pavilion. The pavilion, being built by Bam Construction, is expected to complete in May 2010.

4.) Oval – 42.2%

The Oval could do with some improvement, so it is just as well that the Kennington ground was granted planning consent by the Secretary of State earlier this month for a £35m redevelopment which will increase capacity to 25,000 and will include a four-star 168 bed hotel. Surrey County Cricket Club and Arora International Hotels developing the plans. In the survey, only one cricketer said the Oval was his favorite ground to host an Ashes test match. Eleven put it as second choice, eleven at third, 17 at fourth and five in fifth.

The build up. Glenn McGrath's predictions, Shane Warne's mischievous teasing, the mental disintegration that was Steve Waugh's watchword, batsmen "targeted", the war of words, England keeping their counsel. Then the expectation of the opening day, all-too-often the tone set for the series in the first exchanges: Michael Slater's withering square cut at the Gabba, the twin English groans of disbelief there as Nasser Hussain blundered with the toss and Steve Harmison tried to knee cap his own mate at second slip in the following series. But there was Harmison four years ago hitting Justin Langer. "These blokes mean business," said the batsman as he received treatment for his bruised arm.

The key player for me was Simon Jones, who was even ahead of Kevin Pietersen in his importance to the side. We needed an attacking bowler who could get five wickets on a consistent basis, because Andrew Flintoff tended to hold up an end rather than rip through the opposition, Steve Harmison blew hot and cold and Matthew Hoggard was better against the left-handers than the right-handers.

It is a call that Rohit Sharma and others like Suresh Raina must take. Do they want to make T20 their universe, exist as a series of short, incandescent bursts, where failure is frequented as often as success? Or do they want to take their extraordinary ability towards other horizons? It is not as easy a decision as it seems for sooner or later they will be confronted by that enemy of ambition — the comfort factor. A sharp fast bowler who makes life uncomfortable can only come at you for 12 balls, or maybe even six (notice how T20 is slowly replacing the word ‘over’). There are always a couple of bowlers you can punish. And forty five minutes is about as long an innings will last.

The whole country seems determined to hark back to 2005. Maybe it's in our genes, the same genes that encouraged Lord Nelson to put the telescope to his blind eye so that he could ignore an order to retreat at the Battle of Copenhagen. Except Nelson had a strategy. This is just ignoring inconvenient truths.

Sitting in one of his favourite pubs, The Victoria near Richmond Park in south-west London, Bob Willis tells Brian Viner of the Independent why he feels England cannot win the Ashes this summer - because the Australian batting is too strong. Willis also reminisces his favourite Ashes memories, including 'that' match at Headingley in 1981.

We all know what happened on the pitch, of course, but what about afterwards? "Oh, Brears, Beefy and myself were dragged off to a press conference, and by the time we got back to the dressing-room everyone else had gone. They were going all over the country for Natwest Trophy second-round fixtures the next day. So Beefy and I had a pint together, and that was it. It wasn't until I was driving home and it was the lead story on [the Radio 4 news programme] PM, that the penny dropped as to what we had actually achieved."

Genuine swing bowling has always been instrumental in Ashes success through the years, with Bob Massie and Terry Alderman being just a few examples. Can it be the turn of England's James Anderson this time around? Simon Hughes has the answer in the Telegraph.

People who suffer traumatic experiences are frequently known to repress them, bury them so deep inside their psyche that they can't consciously remember them. Personally, I am convinced that in December 2006 I spent a glorious time with my Australian relatives; that my stay in Perth was marked by a five-day period of festivals, feasting and spa treatments before moving on to Melbourne on Boxing Day for a magical three days hanging out with Kylie. I just need an explanation for the involuntary spasms whenever I hear the words "Mike Hussey".

I've looked at the teams that each may like to send out on to the park (for example, I've assumed that Shane Watson will be fit). How do the Ashes class of '09 stack up? asks Mike Atherton in the Times.

Kevin Pietersen v Michael Clarke
I expect Pietersen to rise to the occasion and cement his position as one of the great batsmen of the moment. Like all captains, Ponting hates the feeling of not being in control of events in the field and Pietersen is the player who can change the course of a game in a session. Clarke, though, has questions to answer: he has never been that successful in England, either for Hampshire as an overseas player or in the 2005 series, and technically he has looked suspect against the moving ball. Verdict: Pietersen

In the Times, Rick Broadbent chats with former England captain Mike Gatting, who speaks on varied matters such as the importance of Flintoff, the perils of success in England and dwindling crowds at games.

That is the beauty of cricket in Asia. Coaching is not restrictive. It is correctly used to sand paper some rough edges but it encourages instinct and expression. Enormously strong wrists will be in action as deliveries that would normally be driven straight as per coaching manuals are whipped away square on the leg side in a disdainful manner. Mystery spinners will hoodwink batsmen as unconventional finger and wrist action will unravel some of the best wielders of willow around.

In the Island, Aravinda de Silva shares anecdotes of his finest memories of playing against Pakistan. Rex Clementine met him.

"I remember landing a day or two before the match in Pakistan. The second ball I faced, I just tried to on-drive, probably I was overconfident and managed to flick it back to Saqlain and I was caught and bowled. It was very disappointing as the team was expecting much from me. But that made me determined to do well in the second innings and score some runs. It was tougher in the second innings. We lost early wickets and the wicket wasn’t easy to bat on. It was very satisfying to score a hundred there.

To let himself and England down when the team were supposed to be opening their eyes to the wider world and learning about those who gave their lives for the country seems particularly crass. This is a big test for the Strauss-Flower regime. They have made an excellent impression as a partnership capable of lifting England from the depths to become credible Ashes challengers.

But they cannot allow Flintoff to be bigger than the team, not when they have won more Tests without him than with him in the last four years. And not when his lack of Test hundreds and five-fors make it hard to still think of him as the irreplaceable all-rounder that he has always been considered.

In the Times, Mike Atherton says that although the issue may soon be forgotten if Flintoff and England perform well, it was very bad timing.

If it does emerge that Flintoff was drinking, Morris will be made to look both foolish and economical with the truth. Thanks, Fred.

Andrew Strauss didn't need it. Attempting to deflect criticism away from his all-rounder, he was forced to concede that what Morris called an “alarm clock issue” is not specific to Flintoff. The team, Strauss said, have a timekeeping issue generally. Ravi Bopara is known to have missed a team meeting this summer, but from what Strauss said yesterday, it is a more widespread challenge for his team to defeat. After that, the Aussies should be a cinch.